Read more

LONDON, June 16, 2012 (AFP) - Romain Grosjean believes he has every chance of extending Formula One's magnificent seven different victors this year to eight by claiming his maiden triumph for Lotus in next weekend's European Grand Prix.

The Frenchman, who has proved himself to be a driver of high potential this year and who finished a strong second in last Sunday's Canadian Grand Prix, reckons he and his team are ready to grab their first win in Valencia.

Weighing up Lotus's potential to register a victory at the Spanish street circuit in the harbour of the Mediterranean city, Grosjean said: "I don't think we are far away from winning.

"The gap to the win for us is not that big. We need to qualify better. That is not our strength this season, but we are working on it. I think Friday and Saturday were quite difficult for us in Canada, but we have been learning a lot about the car so it's good that we now have that in our pocket for the next races.

"We have to go into every weekend aiming for a win -- approaching a race in any other way is like putting yourself on the back foot from the start.

"I'm mainly hoping for an improvement in qualifying, a good start and then we'll see what happens from there.

"It's great to be fighting at the front and that's always what we want to do, but we're in a tight battle this season so of course the most important thing is to score some good points again for the team.

"If we have a strong weekend from the start, then I think we are capable of fighting for a podium or even a win. We'll see after qualifying where we are and hopefully we can get another good result."

Grosjean has been a revelation this year as he set about restoring a reputation that suffered in his previous brief spell in F1.

His application, intelligence and speed have been a perfect foil to the great raw racing ability of Lotus team-mate and former champion Kimi Raikkonen, who won the world title in 2007 with Ferrari.

Raikkonen also believes Lotus, formerly Renault, can shine and grab more success even if he was left frustrated by a technical problem with his car in Montreal.

"I was a bit frustrated overall as I think we could have achieved more from that weekend," he said.

"Still, we gained more points for the championship which is the most important thing, especially with everything so close this season.

"I love winning and that's what I'm always trying for. I've never won in Valencia -- so fo me, it's a good target. Last time I raced in Valencia I finished third after starting from sixth on the grid which was not too bad.

"I would like to improve on that this time around and, who knows, if all goes well we could be enjoying a very good result."

This website is unofficial and is not associated in any way with the Formula One group of companies. F1, FORMULA ONE, FORMULA 1, FIA FORMULA ONE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP, GRAND PRIX and related marks are trade marks of Formula One Licensing B.V.